31 Days with God at Work: Marketplace Devotionals

By James Bruyn

God is intimately present with his inexhaustible power and love in your workplace. With your faith grounded in God’s love, as an employee, a manager, or an executive; you have the privilege of enriching the lives of those working with you.

Use these devotionals to reflect on what God has to say to you in His word about your work, you

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pietech Systems Inc
• Release date: Jun 21, 2018
• ISBN: 9781775380511

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INTRODUCTION

Workday Prayer

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed,

do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God the Father through him.

COLOSSIANS 3:17

Father in Heaven,

Thank you that I can rest in your holy presence through the shed blood of your Son. May my life and work honor your holy name. Help me to keep my eyes focused on you and your kingdom as I go about my work.

May my work, my attitudes, and my speech be pleasing in your sight and be in accordance with your will. May everything that my employer and colleagues do and say be in accordance with your will.

Thank you for giving me the skills, energy, and creativity to earn my daily bread. Thank you for this job and employer, which provide for my daily bread.

Forgive me when my actions or attitudes or words are not pleasing to you. Fill me with your love for my coworkers and customers so that I am able to forgive.

Keep me from temptation at work so that I might not sin before your holy presence. Deliver me from people and situations that wish to harm me or bring evil into my life.

Enable me to be a bearer of grace, hope, joy, and peace, even in the most stressful of situations. May I go about my work in such a way that my coworkers and customers glorify your holy name.

Amen.

DAY 1

Wisdom for the Workplace

Wisdom calls aloud outside;

She raises her voice in the open squares.

She cries out in the chief concourses,

At the openings of the gates in the city

She speaks her words.

PROVERBS 1:20–21

At your place of work, in the midst of all the noise competing for your heart’s attention, God calls to you, offering you his wisdom. God’s wisdom is unique. This world in which you live and work is God’s handiwork. As the Creator, God is the only one who knows exactly how everything is designed. Instead of providing you with an owner’s manual, the Creator desires to enter into a personal relationship with you and to share firsthand how everything functions. Relying on his wisdom and understanding will enable you to do your job with excellence.

God’s wisdom is true, just, and perfect. It will teach you prudence and discretion and provide you with counsel and sound judgment and insight. God’s wisdom will enable you to make just decisions and to lead well. God understands the intricacies of the hearts of those you work and live alongside, so with his wisdom you can love and relate to them in a way that aligns with God’s kingdom purposes.

The wisdom of God comes with a promise of a rich blessing. Should you choose to follow his wisdom, your life will produce fruit that is more precious than rubies and better than fine gold, and its yield surpasses choice silver. The day is coming when Christ will redeem the work you are doing today. If you are going about your work with God’s wisdom, no matter how menial or fascinating the work is, when it is refined by fire, in some inexplicable, mysterious way, it will be purified as gold and silver.

The work you are doing today has immense value when you continually rely on God’s wisdom. The One who created you, rejoices over you, and loves you says this to you today:

So now, children, listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.

Listen to my instruction so that you may be wise,

and do not neglect it.

Blessed is the one who listens to me,

watching at my doors day by day,

waiting beside my doorway.

For the one who finds me finds life

and receives favor from the Lord.

(Proverbs 8:33–35 NET)

PRAYER

Almighty God, give me ears to hear your words of instruction so that I may always dwell in your house and bring glory to your name by the way I live. Amen.

DAY 2

A Project of Daring Faith

Press on toward the goal to win the prize for which

God has called you heavenward in Christ Jesus.

PHILIPPIANS 3:14

A life anchored in faith, living as a citizen of heaven, sets you free to enjoy everything this world that God’s created has to offer. As a person of faith, you can live here and now to the max. With your faith grounded in God’s kingdom, as